Griselda Blanco Biography

Griselda Blanco was born on February 15, 1943, in Cartagena, Bolívar, Colombia, to Fernando Blanco and Ana Lucia Restrepo. She was brought up by her mother.

When Griselda Blanco was only three years old, her mother decided to take her to Medellin, the center of the cocaine industry in Colombia. In Medellin, she turned to a life of crime. After being a pickpocket for some years, Blanco committed murder when she kidnapped and killed a child for ransom when she was only 11.

Griselda Blanco fled from her home when she was only 14, due to the abusive behavior of her mother and resorted to prostitution in Medellin in order to earn a livelihood. She continued being a prostitute for some years.

After getting acquainted with the members of the infamous ‘Medellin Cartel’ during her days in Medellin, Griselda Blanco moved to New York, United States in the 1970s, and established her own drug trafficking operation. It became one of the largest cocaine operations in the United States.

Griselda Blanco’s cocaine empire in the Queens area of New York caught the attention of the drug enforcement authorities of the United States. In 1975, she was indicted along with some of her gang members. However, Blanco escaped to Colombia before she could be arrested. She then returned to Miami, United States a few years later.

Griselda Blanco’s return to the United States and resumption of drug operations towards the end of the 1970s, sparked the ‘Miami Drug War’ that lasted many years. Blanco’s outfit supplied drugs to the entire United States and hence had more financial power, which led to frequent clashes with other gangs.

Following the expansion of the lucrative drug trafficking network that she controlled, Griselda Blanco’s clout increased manifold in the Miami area. She resorted to extreme violence against anyone who stood up to her. Eventually, her rivals decided to eliminate her. Sensing that her life was under threat, Blanco shifted her base to California in 1984.

In 1985, Griselda Blanco was finally placed under arrest by the ‘Drug Enforcement Agency’ in the United States. However, she continued to control her drug business from prison. Although one of the senior members of Blanco’s gang turned into a witness in a murder trial, the case could not be proved against her. 19 years after being arrested, she was sent to Colombia.

Griselda Blanco was responsible for establishing one of the largest drug operations in the United States. At the peak of her power, she used to generate $80 million per month.

When Griselda Blanco was around 20 years old, she got married to Carlos Trujillo. The couple had three sons, namely Dixon, Uber, and Osvaldo. All three of them were killed in gang wars.

Griselda Blanco also had a relationship with Dario Sepúlveda and the couple had a son named Michael Corleone Blanco. After a custody dispute following their split, Dario kidnapped her son and Blanco decided to have him killed. According to newspaper reports, Dario was killed.

Griselda Blanco was murdered on September 3, 2012, by hired assassins in the city of Medellin, Colombia.